Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Dallas Mavericks 81 at Philadelphia 76ers 92
Though the Dallas Mavericks have been "road warriors" this season, owning the Western Conference's best road record, they hit a speed bump on Friday night.
Dallas entered Philadelphia quite confident, fresh off of a 94-93 road win over the Washington Wizards after a Shawn Marion game-clinching block. But with the Mavericks meeting up with the 76ers in the fourth matchup of a five-game road trip, the fatigue from their extended stay on the East Coast seemed apparent Friday night. Holding the Mavericks to under 40 percent shooting while utilized a strong night from their bench, the Sixers handed Dallas a 92-81 loss, sending the Mavericks to 2-2 on their current journey away from home.
"We struggled. At key times we couldn't get shots to go down and at key times we couldn't get stops, so it's a bad combination," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said of the defeat.
"Our undoing was our inability to get anything consistently going offensively or defensively. We had small spurts, but we never sustained it. The end result is a loss, which is disappointing."
(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
With guard Jason Terry in the starting lineup for the second straight game, the uptempo Mavericks took charge in the opening quarter. Terry matched up with the recently named Eastern Conference All-Star Game starter, Allen Iverson. In the halfcourt, the low post dominance of Erick Dampier stabilized the Dallas offense as the Mavericks built up an early eight-point advantage. But after leading the entire first quarter, the Mavs held just a 25-24 edge at the end of one.
"Our first quarter, I thought was good. We didn't finish it particularly well, but most of the time we played well during that stretch," Carlisle said.
Returning from his one-game absence with a stomach illness, Josh Howard gave the Mavericks a spark early in the second quarter. But the Sixers would make a living off of Dallas turnovers in the period. On the court without Marion, who suffered a laceration to his right hand late in the first quarter, the Mavericks found themselves playing from behind early in the second stanza.
"I think my hand hit off the back of Thaddeus Young's heel or something like that," Marion said. "But it's part of it, things happen during the course of the game. You just got to fight through it though."
Meanwhile Young's offensive assault paced Philly, putting Dallas in a double digit deficit. With his right middle finger taped to protect three stitches, Marion returned to the hardwood in the final minute of the half. But his team still entered halftime down 54-48.
"(Marion) is playing extremely well, and it certainly didn't help us when he went out...He had to go out and get some stitches in his finger on his shooting hand, but he came back and said he was okay to play and played well when he was back in there," the coach said.
"But that's one of those things that happens. You're going to have some freak things happen and lose guys for stretches to get stitches or whatever. And you have to play through that."
With leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki just 1-for-6 from the field in the first half, the Dallas offense sputtered to just 42 percent shooting, compared to Philly's 44 percent. The Mavericks' nine turnovers in the first 24 minutes of play certainly helped the Sixers' cause, but Young's 18 first half points in a reserve role told the story midway through the night. Dallas stayed close with Marion's 10 early points.
It took nearly four minutes of play in the third quarter before the Mavericks scored, as Nowitzki drained his second field goal of the night on a jumper at the 8:09-mark. While the Dallas offense went through a drought, the Sixers' offense continued to increase Philly's advantage. In a low-scoring affair, the Sixers outscored the Mavericks 18-12 in the third to open up a 72-60 lead heading into the final quarter.
"We couldn't recuperate (from the early deficit) and it was frustrating. For the most part, in the third quarter we were stopping them. We held them to 18 points in that quarter, but we couldn't get shots. It was like there was a lid on that basket. It's so much harder stopping people when you can't score on them, especially when they've already got a cushion," Marion said.
"We had some good looks," Nowitzki added. "We know we're more of a jump-shooting team, but it seemed like there was a lid on the basket. Especially for the third quarter, where we actually got some stops in a row, but we couldn't get the lead under ten because there were a bunch of possessions in a row where we couldn't score. So, we never really cut the lead. Our defense wasn't really bad in the third quarter, and we tried to make a push in the fourth quarter, but they kept making big plays."
(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
Thanks to big man Drew Gooden, who scored Dallas' first seven points in the fourth, the Mavericks continued to compete. But Philly's Marreese Speights answered Gooden bucket for bucket. Down 16, the Mavericks found success attacking the rim. As J.J. Barea's peskiness on defense bothered Iverson, the Mavs cut the Philly advantage to nine. But the perennial All-Star found a way to all the loose balls in the fourth, before eventually putting the game away on a driving three-point play with 2:33 remaining to put a halt to the Mavericks' momentum. Carlisle soon conceded the loss, emptying the bench in the final minute.
"Our lapses were ill-timed," Carlisle summed up the night. "When we got a couple shots to go, we couldn't get the stops. They're a talented team. They're certainly better than their record. They've had a lot of close, tough losses. They're good enough to beat you if you don't play a good game, and we just did not play a good game from start to finish."
While Philly's 43 percent shooting was not stellar, it was still better than Dallas' 39.5 percent from the field. The Sixers' 49-42 dominance on the glass and 52-38 advantage in points in the paint were key, but their 56-34 edge in bench scoring was detrimental to Dallas' fate.
"Their bench really was a major factor in the game. Young comes in the game and has 18 in the first half. Speights ends up with 14 points, going 7-for-13. So those guys made a bigger impact on the game than we hoped to have let them. That's a big part of it," Carlisle said.
Nowitzki led five Mavericks in double figures with a team-high 15 points on 4-for-13 shooting. Gooden (14), Marion (12), Howard (11) and Dampier (11) all scored in double figures but it was not enough to overcome a rough night for Terry, who collected just four points on 2-of-12 shooting in just under 35 minutes.
After his big first half, Young finished with a game-high 22 points to led five Sixers' scorers in double digits.
Now the Mavericks hit the road again. In the final test of their five-game road trip, the Mavericks touch down in New York on Sunday to battle the Knicks for the first time this season. Dallas swept the two games between the teams last season. The Mavericks-Knicks game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at noon CT.
"We have one more game on this trip to make it 3-2. That can be a good trip and end it on a good note," Marion said.
The Mavericks return home to host the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
For up to the minute news on the Dallas Mavericks, visit Mavs.com. Follow Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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